Editing Texas Instruments (section)

===Consumer electronics and computers===
In May 1954, Texas Instruments designed and built a prototype of the world's first [[transistor radio]], and, through a partnership with Industrial Development Engineering Associates of Indianapolis, Indiana, the 100% solid-state radio was sold to the public beginning in October of that year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/semicon/1950/docs/54regency.htm|title=Texas Instruments – 1954 Regency Radio debuts|website=www.ti.com|access-date=2016-07-26|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815135423/http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/semicon/1950/docs/54regency.htm|archive-date=August 15, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In the 1960s, company president Pat Haggerty had a team that included Jack Kilby to work on a handheld calculator project. Kilby and two other colleagues created the Cal-Tech, a three-pound battery-powered calculator that could do basic math and fit six-digit numbers on its display. This 4.25 x 6.15 x 1.75 inch calculator's processor would originate the vast majority of Texas Instruments’ revenue.<ref name="TIcalcsMedium" />

In 1973, the handheld calculator SR-10 (named after [[slide rule]]) and in 1974, the handheld scientific calculator [[TI SR-50|SR-50]] were issued by TI. Both had red LED-segments numeric displays. The optical design of the SR-50 is somewhat similar to the [[HP-35]] edited by [[Hewlett-Packard]] before in early 1972, but buttons for the operations "+", "–", ... are in the right of the number block and the decimal point lies between two neighboring digits.

TI continued to be active in the consumer electronics market through the 1970s and 1980s. Early on, this also included two digital clock models – one for desk and the other a bedside alarm. From this sprang what became the Time Products Division, which made LED watches. Though these LED watches enjoyed early commercial success due to excellent quality, it was short-lived due to poor battery life. LEDs were replaced with LCD watches for a short time, but these could not compete because of styling issues, excessive makes and models, and price points. The watches were manufactured in [[Dallas]] and then [[Lubbock, Texas]]. Several spin-offs of the [[Speak & Spell (toy)|Speak & Spell]], such as the [[Speak & Read]] and [[Speak & Math]], were introduced soon thereafter.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/eps/1970/docs/78-speak-spell_introduced.htm|title=Texas Instruments – 1978 Speak & Spell introduced|website=www.ti.com|access-date=2016-07-26|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160714182055/http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/eps/1970/docs/78-speak-spell_introduced.htm|archive-date=July 14, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In 1979, TI entered the [[home computer]] market with the [[TI-99/4A|TI-99/4]], a competitor to computers such as the [[Apple II]], [[TRS-80]], and the later [[Atari 8-bit computers|Atari 400/800]] and [[VIC-20]]. By late 1982, TI was dominating the U.S. home computer market, shipping 5,000 computers a day from their factory in Lubbock.<ref name="death_1984_04_texasmonthly">[https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/death-of-texas-instruments-home-computer/ "Death of a Computer,"] April 1984, ''[[Texas Monthly]],'' retrieved September 20, 2023</ref> It discontinued the [[TI-99/4A]] (1981), the sequel to the 99/4, in late 1983 amid an intense [[North American video game crash of 1983#A Savage Price War|price war]] waged primarily against Commodore. At the 1983 Winter CES, TI showed models 99/2 and the [[Compact Computer 40]], the latter aimed at professional users. The [[Texas Instruments Professional Portable Computer|TI Professional]] (1983) ultimately joined the ranks of the many unsuccessful [[MS-DOS]] and [[x86]]-based—but [[PC compatible#Compatibility issues|non-compatible]]<ref name="Inc.1984">{{cite journal|title=Sizing up the Professional|journal = PC Magazine: The Independent Guide to IBM-Standard Personal Computing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhoP0KRkQe4C&pg=PA242|date=6 March 1984|publisher=PC Magazine|pages=242–245|issn=0888-8507}}</ref>—competitors to the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] (the founders of [[Compaq]], an early leader in PC compatibles, all came from TI). The company for years successfully made and sold PC-compatible laptops before withdrawing from the market and selling its product line to [[Acer Inc.|Acer]] in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/investor/compinfo/PRarchive/acer.shtml|title=TI IR – CI – AD – Acer Acquires Texas Instruments Mobile Computing Assets|website=www.ti.com|access-date=2016-07-26|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323184954/http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/investor/compinfo/PRarchive/acer.shtml|archive-date=March 23, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>